Owen Paterson: Tories may regret rule change move

Forget for a second the number of times that former cabinet minister Owen Paterson was found to have broken Parliament's rules.

It's what the Conservative Party has just decided to do about the findings against him that will make some jaws drop to the floor tonight.

Instead of following the recommendations of the independent report that were agreed unanimously by MPs, including several Conservatives, the government has just voted to chuck out the whole system that checks up on how MPs behave.

The process is often not perfect. It's hard to understand sometimes why the investigation process take so long.

When you look at its judgements over the years on different MPs, sometimes critics have wondered if its decisions compare coherently.

'One rule for them'

But given that Boris Johnson has become fond of football metaphors lately: one of their team was given a serious red card, but rather than follow the decision, they've decided to sack the referee and the player can finish the match.

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It's true that most of the public don't pay much attention to political and parliamentary process - although If you're reading this blog, you may be one of those that does.

But with around 100 Tory MPs staying away from the vote, defying the orders of party bosses, it's obvious there are plenty of Conservatives who are well aware that these kinds of shenanigans have political risk.

"One rule for them, and one rule for the rest", is Labour's charge.

Remember just how much damage the expenses scandal did to the reputations of all MPs, even though the number caught up in truly awful behaviour was small.

Serious consequences

That's not to suggest that events today are anything like the scale of that intense political crisis.

But every MP who backed today's move can expect to have it used against them on political leaflets or Facebook campaigns.

There could be serious consequences in Parliament if the opposition parties decide to use this moment to withdraw cooperation on other committees or ways of working.

Some ministers already fear this is an episode that Downing Street may come to regret.

Owen Paterson is adamant that he did nothing wrong, and has been denied natural justice.

But with this Tory response, voters may well come to wonder, what's fair about this?